A few words on Lozère Department

Geography

Lozère is a little populated rural department (the human density is the lowest in France - 14 persons/km2) situated in the South of the Central Massif. It is the most northerly department of the region Languedoc-Roussillon. Its distance from the sea, its relief, climate, economy and its traditions seem rather different from those of the other departments situated in the Mediterranean border. Lozère, without having hight summits as in Alps or Pyrenees, is among the departments where the average altitude is the highest (1000 m). Springs of many big rivers are there: Lot, Allier, Tarn, Truyère, Aveyron, Gard. The landscapes of Lozère depend, above all, on the geology and four zones can be distinguished. Aubrac, which stretches northwestward on a rather narrow vertical strip, is a basalt plateau shared also by the departments of Cantal and Aveyron. The Margeride land extends over the rest of the Northern area. This is a granitic mountain dug in its western part by the Truyère river. In the Southeast corner, the hilly landscape of Cevennes corresponds to schists undergoing the assaults of torrents which go downhill towards the Mediterranean Sea. This crescent-shaped area extends also on the departments of Gard, Hérault for its southwestern tip, and Ardèche for its northern end. The last part of Lozère is constituted by vast limestone plateaus, the Causses, separated between them by rivers, e.g. Causse de Sauveterre between the Lot and the Tarn. The mountain climate is widely spread with Atlantic influences on the most western part, i.e. on the Aubrac plateau. This last one blocking Atlantic Ocean winds makes Margeride dryer. That explains rather different landscapes: the beech, that is a water-dependent tree, is almost exclusive on Aubrac while the fir-tree (and the black pine planted by men) extends widely over Margeride. Limestone Causses which are covered with immense lawns of fescue grazed by sheeps are under a mediterraneo-mountain climate. By places, overgrazing can make a selection for toxic plants such as Euphorbes as well as thorny plants (several thistles); Feather Grass, too tough for sheeps, can be observed here and there offering an effect of magnificent undulation under the spring breeze. Rainy periods occur in Cevennes, with some fierce storms in autumn, in this season the wet warm air coming from the Mediterranean Sea gets in contact with cold air masses over the first heights of the continent. These last years, this phenomenon (so-called Cévenol episode) extended and exacerbated entailing tragic floods in the departments of Hérault and Gard. The king tree of Cevennes is the chestnut tree, around its culture all a rural economy has been developed with strongly anchored traditions. However, without a human intervention, the chestnut grove cannot continue, the chestnut tree introduced in the Middle Ages does not resist to the competition with autochtonous species, particularly with the sessile oak.

 

History

Numerous menhirs and dolmens are source of evidence of a human activity during the Chalcolithic period and the Bronze Age. The Celtic tribes arrived in the VIth century BC were represented in Lozère by Gabales who established their capital on the site of the current village of Javols. From the name of this tribe was coined the word Gévaudan which was the name of the province during the time of the Old Regime. Contrary to the Mediterranean coast, Romans invaded this land only after their victory of Alesia. They took Javols as center of the former country of Gabales and they added rather many houses to this city. Excavations are still in progress in this village. A museum displays some objects found there. The Via Agrippa, which connected Lyon to Bordeaux, came through Javols. The barbaric invasions ended the Gallo-Roman prosperity and, in the High Middle Ages, Mende became the main town because this place, where Saint-Privat was martyred by Alamans, was chosen by the clergy to be the bishop's city. During the One Hundred Years war, at the maximum of the English extension in Guyenne, the western limit of the territory controlled by the king of France crossed Lozère (Du Guesclin died at the foot of Châteauneuf-de-Randon in 1380). In XVIth century, many people became converted to Calvinist reformation. With the help of a traitorous, the Huguenots took the fortified town of Mende. The promulgation of the Edict of Nantes restored peace and an important Protestant community could then live peacefully and in faith in Cevennes. During Louis XIV' s reign, the intolerance reappeared: dragonnades began well before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). The natives of the Cevennes became exasperated by the pervading climate of terror, and a generalized revolt burst out in 1702: this was the war of Camisards in which protagonists committed many atrocities for two years. The spirit of resistance continued on this land which was the centre of several resistance movements and a retreat for refugees during the Nazi occupation. Currently, the department seems to wake up from a long demographic winter: although it was always a little populated department, the drift from the land aggravated by the heavy loss of the First World War made Lozère to lose half of the inhabitants between the end of the XIXth century and the end of the XXth. However, there is an improvement for a few years thanks to a positive migratory balance. Neocountry people, tired of the stress of cities, settle down, fallen under the charm of wide open spaces and of a life quality that has kept authentic customs, on the other hand, the department was also able to develop green tourism in spite of reduced means.

 

Hiking characteristics

The type of hike depends on the considered region: Grands Causses have flat and opened strolls, but with strong hillsides when a stream has dug the limestone. The plateau of Aubrac and the Margeride also allow hikes on slight sloping roads. This is not the same situation in Cevennes, the beauty of this land lies in the succession of deep valleys dug in the dark rock of schist. One can practice ski touring in several places: on the heights of Aubrac (its summit is situated in Lozère at the Signal de Mailhebiau), in Margeride (around the lake of Charpal, on Goulet mountain, etc.) and on both heights which limit Lozerian Cevennes in the South and in the East, i.e. respectively Mont Aigoual and Mont Lozère. Several equestrian centers propose horseback riding, including strolls with donkeys on the road of Stevenson (GR70). Among the natural curiosities, the caves of Aven Armand and Dargilan are among the most famous in Europe. Grands Causses offer favorable conditions to speleology. The multitude of mountain brooks in northern Lozère make this land a very appreciated place for fly-fishing amateurs. A sulphurous thermal spring is exploited in the Health Resort of Bagnols-les-Bains. The nature is protected in the National Park of Cevennes in which traditional agropastoral activities have been encouraged to avoid the natural reforestation. Several animals were reintroduced, either in open field as the Eurasian Griffon in the Jonte gorges, or in fenced areas: wolves, European Bisons and even a herd of Aurochs, the ancestral race of our current cattle reconstituted by successive crossbreeds of rustic races. Lozère appears as a department concerned about the Nature protection, not in its primitive wild state, but such as the man had shaped it before the modernism.

 

French Internet sites for outdoor activities

Center of open air activities (MB, caving, canoe, canyoning, etc.): www.grandeurnature48.com
The Gorges of Tarn in Canoe Kayak : Canoë 2000
Wildlife park of Gévaudan dedicated to Wolf (more than 100 wolves) : www.loupsdugevaudan.com
Equestrian tourism : www.perigouse.com
Naussac-Langogne's Nautic Club : www.sudvoile.com
Leisure activities around the lake of Naussac (in French) : www.lacfrance.net
Play Tarzan ! Three acrobatic tree trails : www.accrobranches.com